Walk Away
by Coz
Summary: [Complete] She had made her decision and this time she wasn't going to change her mind. Sequel to decisions. SJ.


**I'm back, I can't even remember the last time that I posted well, anything. I kept meaning to sit down and write but something would alwys come up. But I'm off work for a bit and was rudely awoken this morning by the bin men, my first lie in for who knows how long and they had to disturb it (sorry, minor rant). The point is that I was mooching through my computer and found this which was almost completed and forgotten, I finished it off and just decided to post it.**

**It's totally un-betaed so all mistakes are mine alone and there probably will be mistakes!**

**This story is a sequel to Decisions, I was listening to the Cast song 'Walkaway' when I was writing, hence the title and if anyone knows the song then they might spot a few familar saying or two.****

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**Walk Away**

She pulled the book down from the shelf, letting it fall open in her hand. She pulled the computer disc out from between the pages. She twirled it between her fingers, considering what she should do. Whether the time was right now.

She realised that it hadn't been right before, the voice telling her not to do it was louder than the one telling her to see it through. But she sensed that things had changed, she couldn't put a finger on it, she wasn't able to name one thing. There wasn't one thing, she couldn't even pinpoint the straw the broke the camels back but she knew it was broken. And she figured that maybe things had changed enough to make one big change.

She had proved everything she had set out to do and more. She had achieved so much during her time at the SGC, she was shocked by just how much. She could move on, she could walk away from it.

After another minutes thought, she put the disc in the computer. She opened the file and scanned through the letter she had written months ago. She altered it slightly, changed the date, messed about with the wording that was perfect before she started and just as perfect when she was done.

She printed the letter, folded it and put it in an envelope before neatly printing General Hammond's name on the front. She put the letter on the kitchen counter and tried to concentrate on other matters. She was aware of the letter the whole night, she kept checking it was still where she had left it, it always was but she couldn't help checking.

She had made her decision and this time she wasn't going to change her mind.

* * *

He paced his office, wondering whether the time was right, to break free of this place that had been part of his life for so many years. He knew that something had changed recently, he couldn't put a finger on what that was but there was something. That something, whatever it was, had brought him to a realisation

Everyone on the team knew how deep the feelings ran between him and the scientist that had joined his team all those years before. Despite his misgivings it had been the best thing that could have happened to him. It gave him the opportunity of a fresh start, something he never thought he would have.

For the eighth time in the last four months and the third time this week he sat down at the computer and opened the password protected file he kept hidden on his hard drive. He acted dumb around computers but he knew more than enough to keep this file and the documents it contained away from the less advanced prying eyes.

Opening the document, he scanned through it, he didn't change anything. He had put everything into it when he wrote it. It said what it needed to and probably a bit more.

It was the right time now. He didn't need the SGC to define his life, he wanted a life outside it and finally he realised that it was what he wanted. He had always had this notion that he would die in the field somewhere, more recently he figured that it would be a field on another planet but a field none the less. Blood and death, things that were so shocking for most people, were such a part of his life, they didn't affect him the same way as they had. In a weird way, that was how he wanted to die, it had been so much a part of his life for so long that he didn't know how else to live.

But he didn't care anymore, he didn't care what he was going to do when he was done here, that would come later. He just wanted to be done here. He was done here.

He printed out the letter and folded it neatly into an envelope, the envelope he locked inside a drawer. He didn't want someone to find the letter overnight, not that anyone should be in his office but he didn't want to take any chances, not with this letter.

He had made his decision and this time he wasn't going to change his mind.

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She nervously walked the halls, she knew where she was going. She had been there countless times but there was something different about this time.

She reached the office, knocked and entered when she was called. She nervously cleared her throat before starting. She had been rehearsing the speech over and over in her mind for hours. She got the speech over with before looking up and into the eyes of her superior officer.

She explained the situation slightly further when pressed, she left the everything rather vague. She didn't want to give too much away.

He said he understood, but there was something behind his eyes which revealed something slightly deeper, something more. She realised that he knew, he knew much more than he ever had said. He knew something that they all had danced around but none of them had admitted. She had never even thought that she was doing this for that reason, not until that moment.

She shifted nervously, the realisation had put her on the back foot but her mind was still made up. Nothing was going to affect that now.

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He walked to the General's office with a definite purpose, nothing was going to get in his way. Not even two junior officers who wanted his advice were going to stop him.

He knocked on the door and entered the office, he was thrown to see her there, he wasn't expecting it. There was something about the way they were both holding themselves that didn't sit right with him.

He looked at them, a quizzical expression on his face, hoping for an explanation. He got one, but it wasn't the one he was expecting. But maybe on some level he was expecting it.

He took it all in, it took a minute for everything to sink in. And then he explained his reason for being there. He hadn't realised just how easy it was to get two people to be deathly quiet.

He presented his letter and gave his reasons. The General sent them both away to talk before they made any decisions. It wasn't a regular thing for two senior officers to resign on the same day, citing similar reasons. He knew the subtext, what everyone knew but no one could say.

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They had to talk, it was awkward. The two of them had danced around the situation for so long. Sharing looks and discussing it in vague, abstract terms. It was hard for both of them to discuss it in real terms.

As they discussed the situation they found themselves in. They both offered to resign and leave the other in their position but they both came to the separate realisations that although they were doing it for other, they were, in the main part, doing it for themselves. They had each seen enough, done enough, proved enough, discovered enough.

And it was time for them to walk away.

They reported their decisions to the General, he accepted their decisions with no questions. He wished them luck and sent them away. They left the office together, left the mountain together.

And went fishing together.

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**So there's my first fic outing for a while, I would appreciate any feedback to see what you thought of this, especially as I haven't posted anything for so long.**


End file.
